Highway Commitee Minutes 2-9-2022

Highway Commitee Minutes 2-9-2022

RUTLAND TOWN SELECTBOARD COMMITTEE MEETING

HIGHWAY COMMITTEE

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 9^TH, 2022

The Highway Committee of the Rutland Town Selectboard met at 9:07 AM on Wednesday February 9^th, 2022, at the Rutland Town Municipal Town Hall. Present was Board Clerk Joe Denardo, Board Member Sharon Russell, Board Member Don Chioffi, Town Road Crew Member Walter Tripp, Town Road Crew Member Jason Bathalon, Mike Mullin, Kirsten Hathaway, and Administrative Assistant Bill Sweet. There was a conference call line with a publicly accessible and warned phone number in use.

• Discussed paving plans for 2022.
  1. Discussed the past paving plans. A list of roads going back to 2000 is available that were done.
  2. Discussed the best way to proceed with requesting paving bids and which roads should be included. There is a 10-year schedule for the roads. The committee considered surveying the roads to see which are in the most need.
  3. Town Line Road is on the list and has $200,000 in grant funding from the state.
  4. Discussed the difference of reclaiming versus milling the road and removing material to reduce the overall road height, and how to handle driveways.
  5. The cost of milling is more expensive than reclaiming due to the need to truck material away.
  6. Discussed how best to allocate funds from this years expected budget, combined with the grant funding for Town Line Road and the carryover balance in the Highway fund.
  7. The total projected cost to repave Town Line Road was $288,400. The total grant award was for $200,000. We have a 20% match requirement which can be direct funds or in-kind work.
  8. We have an agreement with the Town of Mendon on Town Line Road. We are responsible for the road from Gleason Road South to the intersection of Killington Avenue. The Town of Mendon takes care of the road from Gleason Road to the Route 4 intersection.
  9. The carryover balance for the Highway is $627,092. $314,371.41 should be moved over to the retreatment line to account for the additional paving expense pushed back from last year. This will leave a carryover balance of $312,720.59.
  10. Mike Mullin has been giving some assistance to the Highway crew in looking at and prioritizing roads for the upcoming paving season. A list is being put together to create bid documents. Mr. Mullin also suggested putting together an annual crack sealing bid for the high-volume roads to increase the length of time between repaving.
  11. Discussed including driveways aprons in the paving bid this year. The Highway crew normally does this work but the cost and time for them to do it themselves has been going up and the committee would like to see what the difference in cost would be for the contractor to do it.
  12. The paving season does not typically begin until May.
  13. A list of roads will be worked on, and a proposal started to bring back to the committee.
• The salt supply is doing well. More has recently been ordered but we are in good shape right now.
• Discussed some challenges getting sidewalks cleared. Plow contractors have piled snow on the sidewalk and our plow is not able to handle the size of the piles.
• Discussed the issue of contractors plowing snow into the road, and vehicles parked on the roadway. There is a state statute which prohibits the plowing of snow into or across the road, and a town ordinance which designates a parking ban on town highways from November through April.
• Kirsten Hathaway asked about the schedule of the plow call outs. Most days the routes start at 4AM. Ms. Hathaway addressed a concern about a specific day recently where there was icing on the roads. Mr. Tripp said this was unusual as the icing didn’t occur until near 6AM so it took longer to get it taken care of.
• Discussed the furnace at the highway garage. It has not been working well lately. A new pump was ordered and installed recently and has been working well.
  1. There have been a variety of issues since it has been installed and this season has been very challenging. There have been several service calls and parts replaced.
  2. A hole is starting to form in the bottom of the heat exchanger.
  3. The boiler rarely stops when it gets cold. A new boiler may be needed.
  4. An RFP will be drafted so we can get quotes for a replacement system.
• Discussed the call outs for the winter contractors. The 2 for the North end of town are slightly higher than the south due to varied icing issues but all are approaching the historical maximum of 43.

There being no other business the meeting adjourned at 10:19 AM

Respectfully submitted, Bill Sweet